I’m certainly no expert, but getting your music out there is certainly the goal. Having your own website, a YouTube channel, SoundCloud, etc, are all great ways to do self promotion. Most cities have at least one radio station that will play local music, so pitching to them is also a good idea.

If your music is selling well at your live shows, in online downloads, etcetera, radio, especially local radio, would probably be glad to play it for free.

Your recordings must be ‘broadcast ready,’ meaning of a quality suitable for broadcast.

But most strategically important is that consumers are saying, in the coin of the realm, $$$, that they like what they heard, and want to hear it again. If you’re already selling, others will want to use your music to sell what they’re selling. Radio exists, not for the music, but to keep listeners tuned in until the music ends and the commercial ads that pay the bills begin. TV too.

If you have statistics on your sales that indicate your product will keep listeners tuned in, local radio will play it. If they play it, other radio outlets may hear the buzz and want to play it too.

If the venues where you play advertise on radio those radio outlets are certainly interested in having your product to promote the venue.

I see no links to your music here. If you want to promote your music, then start promoting it. Are you really considering spending $20,000 on a radio promotion company? How good and how marketable are your songs? Do you even know? I think you need to re-think your game plan—it seems to me you are just throwing money around in a panic. You will find a very long list of folks that will be more than glad to take your money.

If your music is selling well at your live shows, in online downloads, etcetera, radio, especially local radio, would probably be glad to play it for free.

Your recordings must be ‘broadcast ready,’ meaning of a quality suitable for broadcast.

But most strategically important is that consumers are saying, in the coin of the realm, $$$, that they like what they heard, and want to hear it again. If you’re already selling, others will want to use your music to sell what they’re selling. Radio exists, not for the music, but to keep listeners tuned in until the music ends and the commercial ads that pay the bills begin. TV too.

If you have statistics on your sales that indicate your product will keep listeners tuned in, local radio will play it. If they play it, other radio outlets may hear the buzz and want to play it too.

If the venues where you play advertise on radio those radio outlets are certainly interested in having your product to promote the venue.

A song being “radio ready” is pretty much something that was made up by the industry. If the production is good, then it is radio ready. If it sounds good on a home stereo system or through your iPod, it is ready for radio. Often times, the industry forces artists to make their recordings way too loud, in the mastering stage of recording, claiming that is will be louder, and thus more noticeable, on the radio. This is completely false. FM radio uses audio compression on everything that is transmitted already, which makes everything the same volume. Don’t buy into the hype of the term “radio ready”.

Old school engineering always sets the peak to peak 12 Dbm; that’s -12 Dbm to +12 Dbm getting the most headroom in the mastering. This allows for a fuller sound quality without clipping. At 6 Dbm peak to peak you sacrifice some of the quality and fullness for an increase in volume. I prefer the best quality I can get, you can always turn up the volume on your stereo a few notches.